During the off-season, teams held open tryouts for free-agent players to earn invites to pre-season camps.

Free agent tryouts ranged from October to January depending on the individual team.

The second round of the playoffs was considered the CPIFL Championship game to crown the league champion each year.

In August 2012, Sioux City Bandits' managing partner, Bob Scott, generated the idea of a league that would be run by team owners, and not by a president.

The league gained its first member on August 11, 2012, when the Bandits officially announced their intentions to join the CPIFL.